Standing
in its way is a bizarre blockade from the television industry that
appears to be taking its frustrations on internet video out against
the new platform. ABC, NBC, CBS, and most
recently FOX have banned
the platform from accessing their television websites.
And now Viacom, who recently lost
a long and protracted court war with Google web-video
subsidiary YouTube over piracy, has joined the
merry band of banners.

Customers visiting the websites of MTV,
Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon were rudely greeted with denials when
trying to access TV episodes via their Android-powered internet
TVs.

The decision to ban Google's TV platform seems baffling.
Customers could simply step a few feet to their computer and access
the episodes. And why did the networks put the episodes up in
the first place if they didn't want them to be viewed? The
question hot on the minds of many -- why are networks pulling such a
seemingly illogical and glaringly anti-customer move?

At
the end of the day it likely has some sort of vague basis in reality
-- perhaps television providers are fearful of customers switching
from viewing live TV to online episodes, which reportedly earn less
ad revenue. However, the boat seems to have already sailed on
this front and the TV networks help cast it off, in fact, by putting
legal episodes for their most popular shows up online.

Ultimately,
the move will likely accomplish exactly what the networks least want
-- driving more customers away to piracy and web video.

At the
end of the day what seems particularly egregious is the fact that
none of the networks will even talk about their decision to block the
device. Customers deserve an explanation, but networks seem
determined not give them one. Any worthwhile business man can
tell you -- treating customers with disrespect is the greatest error
any business can make.

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It's funny, I just canceled my Cable TV today... I am charged $87 a month for 3 shows that I watched every week. I now use Netflix and Hulu Plua on my PS3 for the same thig, in HD, for $16 a month. As soon as I saw Netflix switch to a $7.99 streaming only option, that was it for me. I can watch Netflix already on my Tablet, TV and Cell Phone, and hell, more to come from what I can see. It makes sense to me. However, I still am using high-speed internet from Cox, so all I did was increase the speed to their highest rating. A mere $13 more and twice as fast.

I see and hear a lot of people switching to Internet TV. The only thing I can imagine cable partners doing now is offering channels by group and having consumers in the future only pay for what they want to see. It's their only hope, because it's catching on.

Not to call BS..... but your not paying 20 some dollars a month for the highest speed cable on COX. However quite bluntly that's a load of BS. I hate paying a ton for cable and internet too, but once you add in all your subscriptions and the real price of your cable you are no where near what you say your paying right now.